


Free Flying

by rayleenejackson



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, akaashi is a good bf, bokuto was born to be an heir, but he doesnt want to be one, his parents are rude af
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-06
Updated: 2016-05-06
Packaged: 2018-06-06 16:49:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6762169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rayleenejackson/pseuds/rayleenejackson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He forgets about his parents and for the first time in so many years, he can’t hear the sound of their disapproval. He can’t feel their eyes boring into his back, analyzing his every move. </p><p>He's free.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Free Flying

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hoot_Hoot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hoot_Hoot/gifts).



> big thanks to Meg who sort of forced me to write this. i wrote it out really choppy and badly over our tumblr messages and she pressed me to turn it into something else even though i wanted to scream and throw everything away.
> 
> so the format of this is kinda choppy and sharp with solid sentences that just sorta start and end. you'll see

Even before Bokuto Koutarou was born his life was already planned out to the smallest of details. He would fly through the grades at the top of his class. He’d be popular and handsome, smart and sportive. He was born to be perfect. He was the only heir to his family, after all. There was no room for failure.

So when he first got depressed, it was a big deal. He was brought to therapists, a different one with every new mood, and all they could say was it was something he was born with. It wasn’t curable nor was it deadly. Doctors said it would go away with time.

It didn’t.

He was seven and at school, sulking in the corner, when a kid came out of nowhere and poked him. Bokuto soon learned that his name was Kuroo Tetsurou and, while most of the girls in their class fawned over him, he was a loser. He was a major loser who had the grades that were expected of Bokuto and could list off all the emperors that had ever ruled over Japan.

Kuroo Tetsurou was a dork. He was smart but he didn’t act it. He was handsome but he hid behind his hair. He was sporty but he couldn’t settle on a sport. He was popular but he chose to hang around with the social reject. He chose to hang out with the kid that couldn’t colour outside the lines without shaking, the kid who couldn’t let loose and have fun during recess because it was drilled into his head that he was to be classy and better than the others.

Kuroo wasn’t like that. For all the qualities that turned him into the perfect child, there were qualities that kept him away from that title. He was too kind, he wasn’t cold enough to have sort of persuasion in business. He could turn  things into a joke like it was a second nature and he wasn’t opposed to laughing in the wrong situations.

He was the complete and utter opposite of what Bokuto’s parents wanted and the complete and utter definition of what Bokuto needed.

It was two years later that Kuroo introduced him to Kenma, a quiet kid in the year below them. He was silent and usually staring at the game that always seemed to be in his hands.

Bokuto liked him. He didn’t speak much, but he listened. He would listen for hours as long as he had a game to entertain his hands with.

They were the only people he could talk to. Everyone else was blinded by the money his parents possessed. They couldn’t see past the money to the broken home. They all failed to see Bokuto’s crestfallen expressions when he was brushed off as a ‘whiny rich kid’.

For years, it was him and Kuroo and Kenma. Until he was in his second year at Fukurodani and there was a light knock on the gym door.

When he turned around to get a look at the new member he was, quite honestly, expecting a skittish first year with a terrified look in their eyes. He was not expecting to see an angel.

He soon learned the angels name. Akaashi Keiji.

It took just one missed spike during a practice match for Bokuto to reveal just how helpless he was to his beautiful underclassman.

It took barely five minutes before the angel pulled him out it.

It took less than that for Bokuto to decide he wanted this kid as his friend.

Bokuto wasn’t sure how to make friends. Kuroo and Kenma both approached him. Anytime he had ever tried to begin a friendship it usually ended once the kid found out he had money. He didn't want Akaashi to end up being one of those people. So he kept his distance. For all of two practices.

Once Akaashi got over being yelled at and deciphered that the yelling was actually his upperclassman asking to be friends they became close. Akaashi was one of the few people who could knock Bokuto out of his states of depression, Kuroo and Kenma being the only other two.

They were close, but not close enough that Bokuto told him about his family issues. He didn’t want to drag Akaashi into his troubles and he didn’t want Akaashi to pity him. So he kept acting happy, kept pretending he was okay when his parents threw money at him in efforts to make him go away, pretended he was elated every time he slept at Kuroo’s house because he couldn’t stand the fighting and curses that drifted around every corner of his own.

It was a fine tactic until Bokuto found them sprawled in the grass under the trees during lunch talking about their families. It was a fine tactic until Akaashi managed to get him to reveal just how broken his home life was. It was fine until they were wrapped around each other, Akaashi holding Bokuto as he shook and mumbled incomprehensible questions.

It was an even better tactic when Akaashi responds to the kiss. They kiss again, this time under the stars, and again and again. They kiss throughout the rest of Bokuto’s second year. They kiss during the summer when they’re both sweaty from the heat rays and exhausted from the extra practice. They kiss and they kiss and they kiss.

And then Akaashi meets Bokuto’s parents.

At first, he didn’t understand what Bokuto meant when he said they were power hungry and obsessed with status. He didn’t understand what he meant by the “oh they’ll love you” he muttered after confirming the dinner. 

He didn't understand until they asked him why he wanted to mess around with Bokuto. They asked why someone who was so polite, so smart, so handsome, would want to hang out with their mess of a son.

Akaashi tilted his head every so slightly and grins. It’s a little bit menacing and lot scary. He stares them in the eyes, take Bokuto’s hand and says, “I love him. He’s funny and kind smart and so much more. He’s perfect,” and then he’s pulling his shaky boyfriend out of the dining room and up the numerous amounts of stairs.

It’s not until they’re standing in Bokuto’s room, staring each other in the eyes, that Akaashi notices Bokuto is crying. He goes to wrap his arms around him, whisper that they aren’t worth his tears, but Bokuto backs away and shakes his head.

Bokuto knows that Akaashi is all that and more. He knows that Akaashi is amazing and deserves to have the Earth in his hands.

But him? He’s not worth anything. He’s not funny, he’s not smart and he's not perfect. He doesn't deserve to have this angel standing in his room. He's not worthy to have someone hold his hand and stay with him through life. His life would be a rollercoaster and he was waiting for the moment that Akaashi realized he wasn’t worth it and decided he regretted ever boarding the ride in the first place.

Bokuto’s always had troubles with self-worth, even after ten years of friendship Kuroo still needed to assure him of their friendship, so once he found someone who claimed to like him he was drowned in a whole new wave of self-doubt.

But when he’s standing in his room, surrounded by his boyfriend's arms, he doesn't have any doubts that Akaashi is here to stay. And Akaashi makes certain to tell him that every. Single. Day.

The next time Akaashi sees Bokuto’s parents is during Fukurodani’s first match at the Inter-High’s Nationals.

Bokuto spends most of his days and nights at Kuroo’s house now.

They’re walking onto the court, Bokuto relishing in the energetic cheers from the crowd when Akaashi first notices them. They’re sitting a few seats away from Fukurodani’s cheerleaders and they’re watching their son.

Bokuto looks up, following Akaashi’s line of sight, and sucks in a breath. Because there are his parents. His parents, that never once showed any interest in the sport over the years as their son grew more and more attached to it, are sitting there waiting for the game to start so they can see just what he can do with the sport they called a waste of time. 

Akaashi grabs his hand, ignores the heated glares coming from the stands, and pull his boyfriend and captain towards the ball cart. He’s silent while they warm up, receiving mechanically, spiking weakly, serving easy to pick up balls and blocking halfheartedly.

 _Don’t judge him on this_ , Akaashi pleads silently, _you’re scaring him. He’s better than this, I promise. Don’t judge him._

When the match begins Fukurodani is silent and stoic. The players can feel the intensity radiating off their vice-captain and the nerves rushing off their captain. They don't know what’s wrong, but they’re determined to support their captain and vice-captain.

The other team serves and Komi receives it, sending it back up smoothly. He tosses it up, letting the name of his boyfriend fly from his lips. Bokuto runs up and the rhythm is off. Akaashi can tell, Konoha can tell, and so can the opposing team. It’s only one blocker but he wasn’t necessary. The ball hits the net and drops on their side.

He looks up at his parents instinctively. They’re frowning.

It’s his serve now. He misses. It was a big miss, the toss was off and his hand was shaking. The ball didn’t even hit the net, instead, it hit the floor and bounced to the other side of the net.

Bokuto can feel the stares. He can feel his teammates watching him, he can feel the opponents deciding now is the time take the powerhouse school Fukurodani down, he can feel his school glare at him instead of the regular screams of his name. He can feel his parents rolling their eyes and he can hear their words rolling through his head.

He’s hearing their ridicule against volleyball, he’s hearing it all. It’s deafening.

And then he feels a hand on his shoulder. He looks up. It’s Akaashi. He’s wearing the same expression he wore when he told Bokuto he loved him, that he’d never tire of him.

Akaashi cocks a brow and asks if he's flustered because of his parents. It’s a rhetorical question but Bokuto nods anyways.

Akaashi frowns. “Why are they making you nervous? You're not playing for them. You're playing for them,”  he gestures at his concerned team, "you're playing for me," and now both hands are cupping his face, "you're playing for you," and they're kissing.

He forgets about his school, the one that cheers him when he’s playing well and looks down on him when he's off his game.

He focuses on Akaashi. He focuses on Akaashi’s smile, the fire in his eyes, the determination in his hands when he sets the ball.

He focuses on his team, burning brighter than ever before, silently screaming that they would always be there to offer their support.

He focuses on the defeated faces of the teams that surpassed on their way to Nationals.

He focuses on Kuroo and Kenma and Yaku and everyone at Nekoma sitting in the stands.

He focuses on them. His friends. His boyfriend. His team. Those he made a promise to, to win at Nationals for them.

He fights for them. And his next spike slams past the blockers with enough power to send it off the floor and into the stands. The game goes on and Bokuto doesn’t miss another spike or serve. He receives what he can and just promises he’ll get it next time whenever he misses one.

He listens for the cheering of Nekoma. He can hear Kuroo screaming his name. He looks up, they’re sitting behind their opponents and sees Kenma has put his game away. He fights harder. He fights so hard that Kuroo will have a sore throat from screaming his praises. He fights so Kenma won’t get bored and regret putting his game away. He fights so the teams that already lost wouldn’t feel as if their efforts were useless.

He forgets about his parents and for the first time in so many years, he can’t hear the sound of their disapproval. He can’t feel their eyes boring into his back, analyzing his every move.

He’s free.

He's flying through the air, slamming past blocks, sending service ace after service ace over the net.

Akaashi hugs him, melds their bodies together when the score reveals they won. He holds Akaashi close, celebrates with his team, thanks the opposing captain and compliments their opponents. He grins at Nekoma, smiling when the group wearing red jump to their feet and scream into the somewhat quiet gymnasium, embarrassing Kenma to the point where he sunk lower in the seats.

Bokuto is elated.

He's finally happy and he’s finally free.

**Author's Note:**

> come find me on tumblr maybe? @nishinoya-trash


End file.
